Employee wellness programs are growing in the marketplace as employers try to stem ever-increasing costs, both direct and indirect. This is real money: a report from the American Hospital Association estimated that three chronic diseases—asthma, diabetes and hypertension — accounted for 164 million days of absenteeism each year which cost cost employers $30 billion.

The New Employer Wellness Programs go beyond the archetype health fairs, blood pressure screenings, and brown-bag lunch information sessions. This new era in wellness is focusing on health risk assessments, with an aggressive focus on weight management, smoking cessation and fitness.

And there’s where some people see the programs rubbing up against employee privacy.

The concerns are how the data that employees report in health risk appraisals could be used by employers. Employees are concerned that this information could be used to reduce benefits or for even more egregious purposes. This is driving health plans to develop systems to ensure enrollee privacy.

Because these programs are voluntary, employers are providing incentives to ‘nudge’ employees to join up. These prizes are typically, according to the CSHC, cash payments for the completion of a health risk assessment, gift cards, gym membership discounts, and reimbursement for weight loss programs. It’s more carrot than stick, consistent with what behavioral economists are recommending in treatises like the book Nudge.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: The Center points out that for employees to join up and stick with wellness programs over the long term, employers need to demonstrate these programs’ effectiveness as well as continued vigilance in keeping personal data private. In doing so, the programs will garner credibility and trust and, ultimately, drive population health up and costs down.

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1 Comment on Is worker wellness a privacy issue?

Until laws exist to prevent abuse of information by the insurance industry and employers, this is an extreme privacy issue.To date we know insurance companies and employers can not be trusted to do the right thing.

Jane is delighted to be invited to speak at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association's (CHPA) annual conference with health care marketers, convening at the historic Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. We'll cover the growing retail health ecosystem and opportunities for self-care, health engagement, and digital health in the expanding IoT for health/care at home.

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